Nursing Practice The Application of Interdisciplinary Theories

Discussion: Applying Interdisciplinary Theories to Nursing Practice

Apart from middle range theories, it is important to note that theories from various disciplines are also important in nursing practice given that knowledge gained from the said disciplines impact the health and wellbeing of patients. According to McKenna (2020), it is often difficult to solve human problems by individual disciplines without assistance from other disciplines. For this reason, different theories from other disciplines would be useful to the nursing profession given that ideas drawn from the said disciplines would guide nursing practice and research. As a result, nurses’ knowledge would expand leading to improved patient care. In this paper, I will discuss how theories from various disciplines impact nursing practice – specifically psychiatric nursing. Essentially, the paper will focus on the health belief model and how it can be applied in mental health disorders such as eating disorders.

The health belief model is a theory that is applied in predicting or explaining the health behavior (Boskey, 2020). According to the author, the health behaviors of individuals are influenced by their perceptions about health. Essentially, an individual’s belief about health has a significant role in determining health behaviors. The likelihood that an individual would change their health behavior depends upon various factors. For instance, individuals would change their health behavior based on the perceived severity of the consequences of the said behavior. Secondly, individuals only change their behavior if they believe that they are at risk or if they think they are likely to be affected negatively by the said behavior (Boskey, 2020). Third, convincing individuals to change their behaviors is always possible if there are benefits related to the said change. In addition, perceived barriers tend to affect how individuals respond to behavior change. For this reason, it important to overcome both physical and social barriers so as to increase the individual’s willingness to change their health behavior (Boskey, 2020).

Health belief model happens to play a significant role in psychiatric nursing. Psychiatric nursing involves the care of persons with mental health disorders. Essentially, individuals with eating disorders tend to have serious problems with their eating behaviors and thoughts about food (National Library of Medicine - NLM, 2020). According to the NLM (2020), eating disorders are caused by various factors including behavioral factors. If left untreated, the said mental disorder can lead to kidney and heart problems or even death. Treatment of eating disorders includes the utilization of pharmacological interventions such as mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and antidepressants (National Library of Medicine, 2020). In addition, nutritional counselors can teach such individuals about healthy eating. Psychotherapy behavioral approaches on how to change negative behaviors come in handy in the treatment of eating disorders. Although the said interventions are effective at treating eating disorders, many patients with eating disorders do not derive maximum benefit from the said treatments. This is more so the case given that most individuals lack knowledge on the maintenance of a healthy diet regime. Factors that influence individuals’ eating behavior are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; individual’s belief, barriers and benefits of behavior change, and self-efficacy (Keshani et al., 2019). Therefore, health belief model can be used to estimate the said determinants of individuals’ eating behavior with the aim of promoting healthy eating. For instance, the likelihood that an individual will eat health will depend the perceived benefits of healthy eating (Szabo and Piko, 2019). In other words, according to the authors, an individual will change their eating behavior if they learn that their current eating behavior is associated with numerous risks. In addition, self-efficacy improves an individual’s confidence to maintain a certain course of action.